


Today is the First Day

by sportarobbiephan



Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Inspired by Happy Death Day, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2020-09-27 13:14:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20408338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sportarobbiephan/pseuds/sportarobbiephan
Summary: Someone is after Lex on his birthday





	1. Music Box

The hospital bell tower rings loud and true at nine o'clock in the morning. The sunlight gleams through a dorm room, hitting the walls decked out in _Star Wars_ and eighties-style _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ movie posters. Alexander "Lex" Luthor, a spoiled rich twenty-three-year-old man stirs from beneath bedsheets decked out in bright blues and reds. The bell outside counts through the last of its tolls as Lex sits up groggily.

Taking note of the posters, as well as the stocked bookshelf, messy dresser, and mess of a CD collection, he also notices another person in the room. Said person is half-hidden as he stuffs something under the futon in the corner of the room. Lex runs a hand over his scalp, hoping to jog his memory through the fog of his hangover. His cell phone starts playing a funky, pop interlude to "Happy Birthday", and Lex immediately reaches for it, only to silence it.

"You're up." The person from before finally stands, turning around. "I wasn't sure if"

"Where the fuck are my clothes?" Lex growls, interrupting the other. Looking down, he is wearing a dark blue flannel shirt to correspond with the other in red. There is an enormous gap in his memory from last night.

"...on the nightstand."

Lex growls again. He jumps out of bed, also taking note that he is wearing Sonic boxers for some reason.

"And what living nightmare did these come from?"

"Well, you took off your pants last night, and I couldn't just..." He trails off and quickly turns away when Lex instantly pulls them off.

Lex ignores him as he strips bare before pulling on his Neiman Marcus black slacks. He discards the flannel like it's a disease, instead reaching for his Isaia lavender silk shirt. The younger man turns around as Lex pulls on his Gucci loafers.

"Don't know if you remember my name. You were really wasted last night. I'm Cla"

"Tylenol." Lex interrupts again.

"What?"

"Tylenol." He repeats. "Naprosyn. Motrin. My head is _killing_ me. Have any?"

"Oh, right."

The brunette in the red flannel runs over to the mess of his dresser shared with his roommate. After rummaging through a clatter of CDs and papers, he locates a bottle of aspirin under his roommate's pajama bottoms. He walks back to Lex, offering him a pill. When Lex snatches the bottle and dumps five in his hand, the other man starts to untwist the cap off a water bottle. Instead, Lex easily dry swallows them.

"I'm Clark. You"

"Tell fucking no one." He interrupts for the third time. "Got it?"

"Uh, yeah..."

Lex starts to leave, noticing the door being covered in a collage of random band stickers, with Atari Teenage Riot and Ultraviolence catching his eye before he reaches a bumper sticker the proudly proclaims that "TODAY is the FIRST DAY of the rest of YOUR LIFE." Lex rolls his eyes at the cliche, opens the door, and instantly collides with a much shorter freshman. The freshman is already talking but wishes he weren't.

"Hey, man! Did you hit that bad... ass..."

He meets Lex's hard glare and backs off, not bothering to finish his sentence. Lex brushes past him, and Clark groans at his friend.

"Dick move, Pete."

Pete throws up his hands in defeat. Clark then sees that Lex's diamond-encrusted gold watch is lying on the floor next to the nightstand. He picks it up and pockets it. In the quad, Lex is dressed to party as he is forced to make the "walk of shame" across a very busy campus. He shields his eyes with his hand, not bothering to acknowledge the goth girl - Kyla - checking him out, or the student protestor - Chloe - with a clipboard.

"Stop toxic dumping!" She calls out, falling on deaf ears.

As Lex continues his walk, a car alarm goes off, and a pair of students studying on the lawn suddenly get soaked when the sprinklers go off. He passes a line of nine sorority pledges tiredly singing. It's obvious they have been singing for a long time, whereas two sorority sisters shout at them to continue singing, with one calling out the twenty-sixth hour.

"... bottles of wine on the wall! Thirty-nine bottles of wine! Take one down, pass it around, thirty-eight bottles of wine on the wall!"

They draw a crowd of onlookers, who cheer when an exhausted sorority pledge drops and falls face-forward to the ground. Reaching the end of the quad and his much more preppy fraternity house.

"Hey, Lexy!" A stuck-up cheerleader bounces over with a pout on her face. "Why no text?"

"Why no grammar?" Lex questions, shoving past her. "We fucked once, Lana. Don't let it get to your head."

Finally making it to the mansion door, Lex ignores a fellow fraternity brother - Cyrus Krupp - who is listening to country-pop through headphones while reading a book. He attempts to sneak inside and manages three steps before the leader of their fraternity - Rick Walden - catches him.

"Who was it?"

"Nobody."

"Brothers don't keep secrets."

"Seriously, Rick. _Nobody_."

Lex holds Rick's gaze for a long moment before Rick finally throws up his hands. "Whatever. Don't forget the house meeting at lunch!"

"It's everything I'm living for!" Lex calls back dryly as he heads to his room.

Facing the sanctity, Lex groans as he changes from party clothes to class clothes. He's wearing a Ralph Lauren Polo and Versaci jeans when his roommate steps out of the bathroom, still wet, from the shower.

"And the midnight tumbler rolls in."

Lex groans. "God, Dom. I didn't do anything too much, did I?"

"Nothing a slut like you can't handle." Dominic grins, sitting on the trunk at the foot of Lex's bed. "Like shoving your tongue down Nell Lang's throat. Right. In front of. Rick."

"Damn!" Lex covers his face then blinks. "Wait. He didn't sound particularly nasty downstairs."

"Equally shitfaced." Dominic concurs. "Collective amnesia."

"Thank God." Lex chances a look at the alarm clock. "Shit. I'm late for class."

Lex grabs his school satchel and starts gathering papers. He shoves half his desk inside, though he continues to search for a certain book.

"Where is that damn book?"

Dominic smirks and moves to his vanity while Lex moves to their shared dresser. He rummages through a pile of unopened mail, including a black envelope with letters written in bright neon. He pays it no attention and tosses it aside when he finds his book. Smiling like a shark in victory, Lex drops the book in his bag and turns around. Dominic holds out a cupcake with a single, burning candle. Lex frowns.

"Did you _really_ think you could keep it a secret from me?"

"How'd you find out?" Lex groans.

"Driver's license. Not the best picture, by the way."

Lex nods to his phone. "Changed my ringer too?"

"Who, me?"

Dominic smirks again, hanging off the cupcake. Lex reluctantly accepts the cupcake. He closes his eyes, makes a wish, and blows the candle out.

"What was your wish?"

"A new roommate."

Dominic laughs, calling Lex a bitch. On the way out the door, Lex dumps the cupcake into the trash. Dom sounds offended, calling after him.

"Sorry." Lex smiles with false sincerity. "Too many carbs."

Dom looks hurt, but Lex doesn't care and leaves the door open behind him despite Dom still standing there in a towel. Dom calls this to attention, but he's ignored. Roughly seven minutes later, Lex 'sneaks' into the rear of his lecture hall. Dr. Helen Bryce is upfront, writing notes for the class on the chalkboard. The door in the back is loud and squeaky, but Lex pays it no mind as he settles into the room. He makes eye contact with his teacher, who merely smirks.

After sitting through the last twenty minutes of lecture, Lex heads out to the quad. He joins his fraternity group at a set of two tables on the student union patio. Rick conducts the meeting with severe intensity, while nervous pledge Ian diligently takes notes. All the boys, Lex included, absently drink their sugarfree no whip Frappuccinos - as this is their collective _lunch_.

Lex barely pays attention to anything Rick is talking about. He knows they're thinking about a new charity to take on. He also notices Dominic is conveniently absent. His nonchalant expression is wrecked when Eric Marsh joins the group, setting a tray on the table. Everyone stops paying attention to Rick, and even he is staring at Eric. The tray consists of some sort of meaty sandwich, pasta salad, and a glass of chocolate milk.

Feeling the stares, he questions, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know." Rick scoffs. "Lex?"

"Nothing." He scoffs as well. "Unless you count the fucking farmer's buffet you just dumped."

Eric looks away, horrified. Ashamedly, he answers. "I missed breakfast."

Rick raises an eyebrow. "What is... breakfast?"

Eric gasps, taking his tray away. As he does so, he, unfortunately, slams into Clark. While Clark is able to use quick reflexes to grab most of the food, the chocolate milk still splashes all over Lex's backside. He reaches for some napkins, all the while glaring at the other.

"Fucking asshole."

"I am so sorry, Lex."

"You two know each other?" Rick sounds amused.

"No!" Lex sounds defensive, though Clark says, "yeah" at the same time.

Lex glares a hole through Clark's gaze, and the latter sheepishly looks over at Rick. "We, we had a class together last semester."

The older man continues wiping himself down with the napkins and walks over to a local trash bin to deposit them. Clark takes out the gold watch, offering it to Lex.

"I just came by to return this. I didn't know where you"

Lex's eyes widen slightly. He snatches the watch and quickly fastens it to his wrist. In doing so, he looks around to make sure no one saw the exchange. No one's paying attention anymore. Clark is still there, obviously waiting for a 'thank you'.

"Help you?" Lex questions aggravatedly.

Clark sighs and walks away. Upon Lex returning to the group, Rick looks over at the retreating mess maker. "What a fucking prick."

Lex spends the rest of his morning at the house meeting and then takes a walk around the quad before heading to the campus hospital a little past two. Entering the lobby, his cell phone plays 'Happy Birthday', and Lex checks the LCD screen. It reads "Lil' Bro", but Lex instantly hits the ignore button and drops the phone in his pocket. As he waits for the elevator, Dominic shows up dressed in scrubs.

"Dom..."

Lex is forced to ride in the small elevator car with his roommate, with tension in the air.

"Thought you only work nights."

"Doing a double for Claire. She has the flu." There's a pause. "Guess I don't need to ask what _you're_ doing here."

Lex frowns, but they arrive on his floor. "Gotta go."

"It's none of my business, but this is bound to have serious consequences, Lex."

"You're right." Lex scowls. facing Dominic as the doors close again. "It is none of your business."

Lex slips past the nurse's station on the seventh floor and quickly disappears behind a door marked Dr. Helen Bryce - only barely noticing a police officer stationed outside a door farther down the hall. Lex discovers he's alone, and he trails his hand across the doctor's desk. There's a wedding photo of Helen and her husband, and Lex places it facedown. He fingers the spines of various medical books, about to sit behind the woman's computer when the door opens.

"We can't do this today." She sounds frazzled. "There's so much going on."

Lex nods, coming around to wrap his hands around her shoulders. "You're right. I should go."

"I have patients..." Helen feebly pushes him away, though she's backed against her desk.

"And I'm losing mine." Lex bites her bottom lip, a hand down her pants as he kicks the office chair so it wedges against the door handle.

Less than ten minutes later, Lex is hovering above Helen on her desk. He's still fully dressed, but Helen's hair is wild. Her scrubs blouse is a mess, and Lex's hand is massaging her clit. The doorknob jostles then.

"Helen? Are you in there?"

Helen and Lex freeze at Helen's husband's voice. Lex quickly jumps off the woman, as Helen attempts to readjust herself. She pats down her hair, straightens her scrubs, and pulls the chair away. Lex instantly takes a seat, breath coming easily. Helen jiggles the knob before opening the door and greeting her husband.

"Sorry, sweetheart. Damn door keeps getting jammed. I'll have to call maintenance."

He nods but looks over suspiciously to Lex. Helen smiles gently.

"Oh! Sweetheart, this is my nursing student, Lex. Lex, this is my husband, Dean."

"Nice to meet you," Lex mumbles with a phony smile, grabbing his bag and squeezing past.

Dean doesn't say a word to him, but instead, he goes into the office to visit with his wife. Hours later, Lex is back alone in his room. He's already painted his right-hand nails a light lavender, and he's working on the left hand when Rick walks in. Lex sizes him up.

"That's my silk Armani."

"And how hot does it look on me?"

"Just don't get anything on it." Lex returns his gaze to his nails.

"Like Nell's juices?"

"Classy."

Rick ignores him. "What time are you going to the party?"

Lex shrugs. "Later."

He freezes when a blackout rolls by. Rick groans, "Our tuition dollars at work."

The lights go back on a few seconds later, and Lex checks his phone for the time. 9:23.

"Anyway... don't be late or all the hot Kappa girls will be taken."

Rick leaves and Lex finishes his nails. Blowing them dry, he walks to his dresser to find a new set of party clothes. After pulling out a pair of dark blue Armani slacks, his walk to the closet is halted by noticing a photograph sticking out from under a pile of mail. He pulls it free, seeing an image of his mom and himself when he turned eleven. There's a cake in front of them, with one lit candle.

Tears threatening to spill out, Lex shoves the picture into the top drawer and walks back to the closet. Thirty minutes after, Lex is wearing white silk, leaving his frat house. The area is pretty much empty, as most people should be back at their respective pledge homes or dorm rooms. He whips out his phone and checks his voicemail.

_Lex, it's Lucas. You know, the brother you never talk to? I sat in that damn restaurant. Waited for you for over an hour_

Lucas is cut off as Lex deletes the message and ends the voicemail call. He slips the phone back into his pocket. The path he was walking down turns blocked, with only an exposed water pipe before him. The tunnel is barely lit, a paddleboard gondola sat upright, and a little jewelry box dancing figure sits on the ground in the middle. Lex checks his watch in the dim light. 10:43.

"Shit."

He walks toward it as it begins playing the instrumental child's happy birthday song akin to a jack-in-the-box. He calls out when the figure stops playing, and someone dressed in black and a freakish babyface mascot mask stands silently in the tunnel's entryway. Lex bravely tells him to go away, and that he's not afraid. When the person leaves after Lex says he's going to call the police, Lex begins walking out the other end.

The 'happy birthday' begins again, and Lex looks back. He backs away, into another body. Lex swivels around and opens his mouth to scream as the other person clamps a hand over his mouth, and stabs him in the chest.


	2. Strobe Lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lex wakes up

Lex bolts away, breathing heavily. Realizing it was a nightmare, Lex breathes a sigh of relief. He hears the hospital bell tower ringing outside as the sun shines into the dorm room. The funky 'happy birthday' ringtone spouts out, and Lex realizes he's back in Clark's room. Lex checks his phone, reading "Lil' Bro" before shutting it off and sitting up in the primary-colored sheets. He swings his legs over, and Clark turns around with an awkward smile.

"You're up. I wasn't"

"My clothes?" Lex interrupts, hoping they're somewhere else.

"Uh, on the nightstand."

Lex stands without a word about the boxers. He shimmies out of them, and a redfaced Clark whirls around.

"Don't know if you remember my name. You were pretty waste"

"Clark." Lex interrupts, causing a pleasantly surprised smile to appear on Clark's face, despite him turned sideways. "Tylenol?"

"Huh?"

"Tylenol," Lex repeats. "Aspirin will work. My head is killing me."

"Oh, right."

Clark moves over to his dresser and begins searching for pain medication. Lex grows impatient, shoves over the pajamas, and grabs the bottle. He dumps three pills in his hand and Clark laughs lightly.

"Wow. Have you been here before?"

Lex dry-swallows then pauses a moment. _How the hell did I know where it was?_

"... you okay?"

Lex glances around the room in disbelief, falling short at the sticker-covered door, with the same "TODAY is the FIRST DAY of the rest of YOUR LIFE" pointedly staring at him. Lex opens the door warily, finding Pete.

"Hey, man! Did you hit that bad... ass..."

Clark's roommate trails off, looking between Lex and Clark. A little freaked out, Lex pushes past him and hurries out the door. He barely hears Clark groaning at his friend.

"Dick move, Pete."

Forced to make the "walk of shame" across campus again, Lex shields his eyes from the sun. Kyla checks him out, and Chloe runs up with a clipboard. Lex ignores them both. The same car alarm goes off, and the same pair on the lawn is soaked. The sorority pledges are down to thirty-nine bottles of wine, and an exhausted girl drops. Lex is getting more freaked out when Lana jumps out.

"Hey, Lexy! Why no text?"

"Lana, what day is it?"

"Monday, the twenty-eighth."

"Are you sure?"

Lana takes out her phone and shows him. "See?"

Lex backs away and quickly heads to his Sigma Delta house. He doesn't notice Cyrus, but he also doesn't sneak in. He's halfway up the stairs when he hears Rick's voice.

"Who was it?"

Lex turns around, clearly on edge. Rick takes Lex's blank stare as an offense.

"Brother's don't keep secrets."

Lex leans on the banister. "I am having a serious case of deja vu right now."

Rick nods. "Oh, I have it all the time. It's supposed to mean someone is jacking off thinking about you. I have it about five times a day."

Lex shakes his head slowly. "No, I've been having it all day."

"Lucky son of a bitch. Switch to water next time, 'kay?"

"Thanks." Lex sighs dryly. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Don't forget the house meeting at lunch!"

"Yeah... I remember."

Lex snatches his Ralph Lauren Polo and Versaci jeans and has them on by the time Dominic walks in wearing a towel.

"And the midnight tumbler rolls in." When Lex stares at him, Dom continues. "You were a shitfest last night."

"Danced on a table, blew pretzel chunks?"

"You remember." Dom almost sounds impressed. "I'm shocked."

"... yeah."

"Oh, and you rammed your tongue down Nell Lang's throat. Right. In front of. Rick."

"I'm... late for class."

Lex backs into his desk, picking up his book from beneath a pile of trash and tossing it into his bag. Before he leaves, Dominic meets him at the dresser with a cupcake.

"Did you _really_ think you could keep it a secret from me?" Lex takes it with a bewildered look. "Don't you wanna know how I found out?"

"Driver's license."

"So clever."

"I gotta go."

Lex sets the cupcake down, with Dom upset over Lex not even blowing out the candle. The wind caused by Lex slamming the door shut blows it out anyway. Lex rushes over to class, making eye contact with Dr. Helen Bryce before sitting through the last half hour or so. He grabs a sugarfree no whip Frappuccino at the Talon on campus and joins the Sigma Deltas at their tables on the student union patio. Rick is holding court again when Eric sits down with his tray _again_.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know." Rick scoffs. "Lex?"

"Huh?" Lex snaps out of his zoning. "Just a little tired, I guess."

"No, dumbass. Eric's tray."

Lex shakes his head, and Rick scoffs. "This trash is not Sigma-cuisine. Did you get chocolate fucking milk!?"

"I missed breakfast." Eric mumbles, ashamed.

Rick raises an eyebrow. "What is... breakfast?"

Eric gasps, taking his tray away. As he does so, he again slams into Clark. While Clark can use quick reflexes to grab most of the food, the chocolate milk still splashes all over Lex's backside. He reaches for some napkins, all the while glaring at the other.

"Fucking asshole."

"I am so sorry, Lex."

"You two know each other?" Rick sounds amused.

"No!" Lex sounds defensive, though Clark says, "yeah" at the same time.

Lex slowly looks at Clark. Instead of fury, Clark sees fear, and he covers up quickly. "We, we had a class together last semester."

The older man continues wiping himself down with the napkins and walks over to a local trash bin to deposit them. Clark begins to walk away, but Lex snaps at him. Clark turns back, and Lex walks up to him, clearing his throat awkwardly. Clark stares back nervously until he looks down and sees Lex's open hand.

"My watch?"

"Oh. Yeah. Here..."

Reaching into his pocket, Clark hands Lex his watch. After fastening it on his wrist, Lex finally returns to his fraternity boys. Rick takes note and watches Clark retreat.

"What a fucking prick."

After the rest of the house meeting, Lex takes a walk in a different direction to try and clear his head. It doesn't work. Across the quad, he heads to the campus hospital a little past two. Entering the lobby, his cell phone plays 'Happy Birthday', and Lex checks the LCD screen. It reads "Lil' Bro", but Lex instantly hits the ignore button and drops the phone in his pocket. As he waits for the elevator, Dominic shows up dressed in scrubs.

Despite it all, Lex still seems surprised. "Dom..."

"Hi," Dominic greets his roommate cautiously as they step into the elevator together. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah... it's fine."

"You were acting really weird this morning."

"I'm having a weird day."

The doors ding, letting Lex off on the seventh floor, when Dominic speaks again. "It's none of my business, but this is bound to have serious consequences, Lex."

"Dom, I really can't talk right now."

"Fine... it's your life."

Lex slips past the nurse's station and quickly disappears behind a door marked Dr. Helen Bryce - only barely noticing a police officer stationed outside a door farther down the hall. Lex discovers he's alone, and he trails his hand across the doctor's desk. There's a wedding photo of Helen and her husband, and Lex places it facedown, this time without really looking at it. He fingers the spines of various medical books, about to sit behind the woman's computer when the door opens.

"We can't do this today." She sounds frazzled. "There's so much going on."

Lex nods, reaching around him to lock the door. "I need to talk to you."

Helen sighs. "Lex, I know what you're going to say."

"You do?"

"It’s normal for a young boy to have feelings for an older woman. But you can’t let it cross that line. You can’t fall in love."

Lex drops his arms. "I'm not falling in love with you."

A mix of confusion and relief shows on Helen's face. "You're not?"

"No. I've been having..."

Before Lex can continue describing his sense of deja vu, Helen backs into her desk and pulls Lex on top of her. Lex resists at first, but lust overcomes him. He shoves a hand down her pants, careful not to pop any buttons on the scrubs uniform. With his other hand, he wrenches his fingers in her hair. He bites her bottom lip teasingly; not enough to draw blood. Before it comes to a climax, Lex begins pushing back. Helen clings to him, but Lex is determined and needs to take a breath.

"Your... husband."

Helen stops, looking at Lex in disbelief. "That's a real buzzkill."

As Lex pulls away, the doorknob jangles. Helen looks over at Lex, who's sitting in the office chair with his bag, completely composed. Helen readjusts herself as the person in the hall knocks loudly.

"Helen? Are you in there?"

"Thank God you locked the door," Helen whispers to Lex.

The doctor takes a few deep breaths, unlocks the door, and greets her husband. Helen kisses Dean and makes the introductions.

"Hi." Lex glances up but doesn't meet Dean's eyes as he edges past the couple.

He rushes toward the elevator, passing the nurse's station, and picking up on their whispering.

"Well, I'm not comfortable with it." The female nurse shudders.

"Me neither." The male nurse agrees.

The nurses look up at Lex at the same time. Lex's immediate thought goes to Helen. Lex diverts his eyes, picking up on their names. The female's name is Sutton, and the male's name is Hamilton. Lex reaches the elevators, waits, and notices the police officer from before. He's drinking coffee.

Hours later, Lex is back alone in his room. He's already placed the picture of him and his mom and the single candle into the top dresser drawer. He has his clothes laid out and has painted his right-hand nails a light lavender, and he's working on the left hand when Rick walks in, wearing Lex's silk Armani. The latter recognizes it instantly, and Rick reads Lex's expression.

"Relax. I'm just borrowing it for the night. How does it look on me?"

Stuck in his reliving status, he doesn't notice when Rick continues to talk to him.

"Earth to space bitch..." Lex glares at Rick, and Rick gets offensive by pretending to be a deaf person. "What time are you going to the party?"

Lex shrugs, glancing at his watch. 9:23. "Later." He freezes as, yet again, a blackout rolls by. "Oh my God!"

The lights come back on, and Rick scoffs. "Our tuition dollars at work." He notes Lex's bewildered expression and shakes his head. "Chill, Lex. It's just another rolling blackout."

"It happened before?" Lex asks hopefully.

"Duh. Two weeks ago. I was on the treadmill and almost ate pay dirt. What the hell is so difficult about keeping the electricity on?" He shakes his head to compose himself. "Anyway, don't be late or all the hot Kappa girls will be taken."

About half an hour later, Lex is wearing white silk, leaving his frat house. The area is pretty much empty, and he takes out his phone to listen to the voicemail.

_Lex, it's Lucas. You know, the brother you never talk to? I sat in that damn restaurant. Waited for you for over an hour_

Lucas is cut off as Lex deletes the message and ends the voicemail call. He slips the phone back into his pocket. The path he was walking downturns blocked, with only an exposed water pipe before him. The tunnel is barely lit, and a little jewelry box dancing figure sits on the ground in the middle. Lex checks his watch in the dim light. 10:43.

Despite part of his brain telling himself that it was only a dream, the rational side of his brain tells him to get the hell out of there. He turns toward the wooded area, climbing the ditch to get to the top of the water pipe, to the surface. A branch snaps as he climbs, but he doesn't dare look over his shoulder. He notices the faintest glimmer of light, and an unsettling feeling grows in his stomach. Carefully, he maneuvers himself to the surface and takes a quick breather.

Hearing the same noise again, he hightails it to the sorority house that is throwing the party tonight. He reaches the front door and rings the doorbell, finding it much too quiet for a party. He looks over his shoulder to see if he's been followed. When he turns back, the door is open, the lights are off, and the masked figure appears in the doorway. Startled, Lex throws a powerful right hook. The figure is taken down, the lights flick on, and the crowd is gathered in the doorway. There's a 'Happy Birthday, Lex' banner hanging behind them.

"... happy birthday?" Eric's unsure voice is heard in the crowd.

"What the fuck, Lex?" Nell scowls at him, removing the mask and rubbing her jaw.

"Shit."

Before he can say anything else, Rick steps forward, opening his arms. "Don't mess with the birthday bitch!"

The crowd cheers and plastic cups are raised. The music is cranked up, and it feels more like a party. An hour and a half into the party, Lex has relaxed. He despises surprises and isn't much of a fan of staying at parties for very long, but this is a lot better than his dreamworld. He grabs his phone and heads to the corner where Rick is surveying the crowd.

"That slut." He scoffs as Lex falls into the hearing range.

"Who?" He asks, glancing up from his phone where there are no new messages.

"Dominic." He all but pouts. "He swore he'd be here. We are kicking him out of the house next year."

"He had a double shift, right?" Lex shrugs.

Rick rolls his eyes. "He's boning some mystery dude and not sharing."

Before Lex can question him, Nell wanders over and offers Lex a beer. "Truce."

Lex accepts the drink, ignoring Rick's scowl. "Why the fuck were you wearing that dumbass mask anyway?"

Nell shrugs. "Big game on Friday. It's called the school spirit. I wasn't going to strip down to my cheerleading uniform. Maybe I should've. Wouldn't get clocked for that."

Rick lets out a desperate, obnoxious laugh. It draws an annoyed look from Nell, but Lex ignores him yet again.

"Did you ice it?"

"It's fine." She gives him a shark-like grin that doesn't quite measure up. "You can make it up to me later."

Nell gives Lex a suggestive wink before disappearing into the crowd. Rick, meanwhile, gives Lex a murderous glare. The latter, however, looks back with the picture of innocence.

"What?"

"Don't 'what' me, you bastard. You know _exactly_ what you're doing."

"Didn't see you doing anything about it."

Lex downs the beer and disappears as well. Roughly twenty minutes later, Lex catches Nell's eye. She's heading upstairs with a 'come hither' look written on her face. Lex hungrily follows. He bypasses a couple of girls tripping out on ecstasy, and two drunk guys who are full-on boning in the hallway. Lex finds an empty bedroom and walks inside. Checking himself out in the mirror, the mask comes into his peripheral vision. He scoffs.

"Looking for me to hit you again?"

Nell approaches Lex, and the latter chuckles when they get face to face. He lifts the mask off and gives Nell a quick kiss. She brandishes a remote and turns on strobe lights and bubblegum pop music begins out of nowhere. Lex has to step back and try not to laugh. He is not drunk enough for this yet. His phone dings and he turns toward the closet to see.

** _To: Lex_ **

** _From: Prick_ **

_U r with her arent u?_

** _To: Rick_ **

** _From: Sexless_ **

_Paranoid much?_

** _To: Lex_ **

** _From: Prick_ **

_STFU. I'm locking u out of the house_

** _To: Rick_ **

** _From: Sexless_ **

_Go home. Drink less._

Lex shuts off his phone and turns back. Nell has the mask back on, and Lex groans.

"As kinky as this mask thing could be, you're pissing off your boy toy. I'm leaving."

He moves past her, but Nell shoves him back. Startled, Lex stumbles to the bed and notices blood. He looks down on the floor to see Nell's mutilated body. Fear crawling inside, Lex screams. The masked figure brandishes a knife, and Lex kicks him in the groin. He notices a fraternity paddle hanging on the wall and grabs that for a weapon.

Lex swings it down hard over the back of the other's head, but the figure ducks in time. He brandishes the bloody knife again. The bedroom door swings open, and Lex is sent forward, impaling his abdomen on the knife.


End file.
